Monday, 26 March 2012

I am sitting here with pampered feet, just treated myself to a pedicure at the new shop on the west bank. With no street names it is always tricky to give directions but this is on the main road just before the junction with the old petrol station. Here is a picture of the front of the shop.

Eiysha trained in Camberly, Surrey for two years and we had a long discussion about you can't use the same products on European skin and hair that you can on Egyptian so she does seem to know what she is talking about. My pedicure was wonderful, all the normal stuff with the addition of threading in case there were any small hairs on the toes.

She speaks wonderful English, is completely open about her prices and they are the same who ever you are, recommended!

Saturday, 24 March 2012

One of my friends(single lady) just took a trip from Luxor to Hurghada by bus and this is her report.

"Luxor to Hurghada Super Jet bus leaves from next to train station at 7.30pm every night, takes 4 hours with one stop. Hurghada to Luxor Superjet bus leaves Hurghada to Luxor at 8.30am every day, takes 4 hours with one stop. 45LE each way (non- Egyptian) and drops you back next to train station. You can only get tickets from 1 hour before travel." The bus was clean, had a/c and there was a toilet although she did not use it.

I guess the only disadvantage is not being able to get the tickets in advance.

PS she said "mention the hassle in Luxor started before the bus doors had even opened when I got back and the bus was boxed in by taxis!! That would freak anyone new to Luxor out big time!"

Thursday, 22 March 2012

If you were at the symposium on Amenhotep III or wish you had been you might enjoy this book. I spotted it on Lyn Green's facebook page so thanks Lyn. Amenhotep III - Cambridge University Press: Amenhotep III: Egypt's Radiant Pharaoh

This book follows the life story of Amenhotep III, one of the most important rulers of ancient Egypt, from his birth and into the afterlife. Amenhotep III ruled for about 38 years, from circa 1391 to 1353 B.C., during the apex of Egypt's international and artistic power. Arielle P. Kozloff situates Amenhotep III in his time, chronicling the key political and military events that occurred during his lifetime and reign as well as the evolution of religious rituals and the cult of the pharaoh. She further examines the art and culture of the court, including its palaces, villas, furnishings, and fashions as well as his extended family, officials, and international relationships. Through the exploration of abundant evidence from the period, in the form of both textual and material culture, Kozloff richly re-creates all aspects of Egyptian civilization at the height of the Mediterranean Late Bronze Age.

Arielle P. Kozloff, former curator of ancient art at the Cleveland Museum of Art, is a private consultant and lecturer for museums and private collectors in the United States and abroad. She is the coauthor of Egypt's Dazzling Sun and The Gods Delight. She has contributed chapters to volumes including Egyptology Today, Amenhotep III: Perspectives on His Reign, and Millions of Jubilees as well as articles to numerous journals, including Journal of Egyptian Archaeology and American Journal of Archaeology.

Monday, 19 March 2012

I had guest going to Tod Temple today and she could not believe how deserted it was and just a short distance out of town. Tickets are bought at Luxor temple so this is something that can that can be done on the road to Aswan but not the other way. However it can also be done as a day trip with Moalla and Esna. The tickets are 20LE and say Al Tud Temple, Qena which is a bit confusing. I have been there several times and really enjoy this site.

On going in there is a block yard with loads of pieces which seem to be grouped into period. I definitely saw a 12th dynasty block with Senusert I cartouche and there was 18th, 19th, late period and Roman remains as well as a 5th dynasty cartouche.

According to my Baedeker (which is a great guide book especially for obscure places like this). The large temple was from Ptolemaic and Roman times but there had been a temple on the site as early as Userkaf 5th Dynasty. It had been rebuilt during the Middle kingdom and much enlarged in the New Kingdom. It was in the ruins of the 12th Dynasty temple that the treasure of Amenemhet II was found, now in the Cairo museum. A Coptic church had been built on the site and the temple used for housing. Just outside the precinct there were some Roman baths. The actual temple was small but well restored and featured Montu and his consort Tyenenet.

There was a side chapel or kiosk which has Seti I and Ramses II decoration and what looked like a ramp going towards the Nile. It was of course usurped by Ramses and is actually originally early 18th dynasty.

Now these like piggies were a complete puzzle to me when I first visited but subsequent investigations (I asked the latest archaeologist Christophe Theirs to work there) It is a Coptic offering table discovered by Le Roche in 1930. Area of discovery is not know. It was restored in 2006 (the last animal was glued back in place) when Christoph was working there and placed where I saw it then. They also thought the animals were weird, possible a cat or a dog or even a lion.

It was a very pleasant place and wonderful for a “get away from the tourists” visit. I do recommend it

Friday, 9 March 2012

Luxor Temple Conservation Update - February 2012 | American Research Center in Egypt: Luxor Temple
Three-thousand, five-hundred years is a long time for any building to stand, and it comes as no surprise that, today, Luxor temple is in need of some help. Many of its columns in the first court, for example, have been showing the very serious effects of exposure to the elements and prior maintenance efforts. To address these issues, ARCE began a project in 2008 to assess and conserve the columns in the Ramesses II court. This work runs in tandem with our larger conservation initiative on the East Bank and forms part of our Egyptian conservator training program.

Under the management of ARCE Luxor’s Associate Director, John Shearman, ARCE conservator Khadiga Adam has supervised and instructed 28 conservators and 10 craftsmen over the past two years to address the columns’ problems. Visitors to the temple can immediately see our team’s progress, as they work in plain sight to the west of the Ramesses II court’s Amun, Mut and Khonsu shrines.

Between 2010 and 2011 this exacting work has involved a number of stages. Before conserving anything, each column needed to be studied and documented. This was done so that the ARCE staff and students might understand the different phases of conservation that have taken place over the many decades the temple has been open, and then correct any problems associated with that intervention.

It was also done as a means of understanding the different ways in which each column has deteriorated. Once the conservators felt they had come to grips with this information, proposals were put forward on how to help the ailing columns.

These proposals were then tested and treatments were implemented. One of the greatest detriments to the columns has been previous efforts to shore up gaps in the structures by means of cement. Not only have these cement patches expanded and contracted at a different rate from their adjacent sandstone, they have also assisted the movement of water through the stones. Such moisture has weakened the columns by encouraging the production of salt crystals, which form on the surface and very quickly erode the stone.

Salt damage of this sort is found throughout Luxor and Karnak temples, and is addressed by ARCE through other initiatives, such as our groundwater-lowering efforts, and our work in Khonsu Temple. In addition, these cement patches have actually obscured historical information, as many covered inscribed texts and figures.

For all of these reasons, the cement patches on the Luxor columns are being removed and replaced using lime slaked in the ARCE-built Karnak Conservation Lab, and mixed into mortar on site in Luxor Temple. In order to better appreciate the texts and images on the columns, a program of mechanical and chemical cleaning, as well as the consolidation of loose pieces, was undertaken. Perhaps the biggest, and most obvious, recent challenge to this project takes the form of a broken capital.

This enormous piece of stone is currently being repaired in collaboration with Frank Helmholz, a stone mason working with the University of Chicago’s Permanent Epigraphic Survey to Luxor (Chicago House). Securing such an integral piece of masonry is, of course, vital for the continued existence of the temple’s first court. This project helps to ensure the continued existence of a very visible part of one of the most important ancient monuments in Egypt; one enjoyed by thousands of visitors every year.

Tuesday, 6 March 2012

Back in 2007 I made a post about the sugar cane railway and just recently I came across a railway forum that was asking about it. So here is my post reprised.

You may have wondered what the narrow gauge railway lines on the West Bank were used for. well at this time of year they harvest the sugar cane fields and the crop is taken away on by trains running on these tracks.

As you can see the grip needs adjusting and the man on the front of the train is pouring sand on the track so the wheels will grip properly.

As the train goes along both adults and children sneak sticks of cane to munch on. I love it but it is dangerous and expensive, the last time I tried it I broke a crown!!!!!

It is really long and goes all the way to Esna where the cane is processed

During recent excavations, the first elements of an administrative structure (doorjamb and fragmentary limestone lintel) dating from the Seventeenth dynasty have been uncovered. The hieroglyphic inscription is of first importance giving the identity of the builder of the structure whose name is Senakht-en-Re.

This is the first contemporary document of this king ever discovered in Egypt. His name was previously known only by three documents written one or two centuries after his reign during the Eighteenth and Nineteenth dynasties (ca. 1543-1186 BC.).

The public part of the Amenhotep III symposium has just finished and what a great set of lectures we had. No notes I am afraid, no light to take them by but also without the slides they would make no sense.

After a challenging start (no projector) Hourig Sourouzian gave an overall presentation followed by Rainer Stadelmann giving the history of the project. Some of the before and after photos were just stunning, made you realise just how much the team have done. The next lecture was the most impressive for me personally, the most enthusiastic and knowledgeable young lady Nairy Hampikian gave a presentation about their hopes and dreams for the site management. She told me this has been published in the Annals. The idea is to stop the colossus being seen in isolation and to bring it into context. That is a massive over simplification of a lecture that was chock a block with ideas, projections and diagrams.

There were two lectures about 3-d scanning which I can see being standard techniques in 10 years on all digs(presuming funds). Rainer Drewello, Jasmin Badr and Nils Wetter presented these. The possibilities in the world of reconstruction and documentation are endless.

The lecture by Arkadi Karakhanyan on Archaeo-seismological ought to have been awful as he didn’t speak English but with an excellent translator, descriptive slides and simple but extremely affective little demos everybody totally understood. I certainly know a lot more about earthquakes than I did last week.

The second day put the temple into context with lectures on other achievements of Amenhotep III in Luxor. Mansour Boraik on Sphinx Alley, Betsy Bryan on the Mut Temple, Ray Johnson on Luxor Temple and Peter Lacovara on Malkata. A big treat.

The third day was about site maintenance Horst Jaritz talked about the temple of Merenptah both from the historical and site management points of view. John Sherman on the work of ARCE in Luxor and the training of SCA personal, Gaetano Palumbo from the World Monuments Fund about the responsibility all the world must take for historical monuments and lastly Julien Rathle about the challenges that the extremes of temperature make to site management

PS I am so jealous of the speakers who got to visit his tomb and attending the opening ceremony of the third colossus.

Sunday, 4 March 2012

Help for British Nationals: For British residents in Luxor there will be a consular clinic on Sunday 11 March at 6pm at the Gaddis Hotel. We will be looking at setting up a wardens network for Luxor so if you are interested in this initiative then please do come along to find out more.

Friday, 2 March 2012

Loose blocks from Osirian chapelsGreat début lecture from Jeremy Hourdin (more info here http://www.theses.fr/s70325). He used French translations of the Egyptian names and I have put them in English with the help of my trusty TIP by Kitchen as my French is useless. E.g. Chepenoupet = ShepenwepetHe was talking about blocks that have been recovered and their place at Karnak. Some blocks were from Sphinx Avenue and others from the Bubastis gate.Sphinx Avenue Blocks17 blocks have been discovered in the excavations in Sphinx Alley that are part of a chapel of the 25/26th dynasty. They refer the Shepenwepet (daughter of Piankhy) who was a contemporary of Taharqa. She was adopted by Amenirdis I (daughter of Kashta). She was a God’s wife of Amun 690-664BC.There are a number of chapels to Osiris that were built by her at Karnak during this period such as Osiris Nebankh and Osiris Ounnefer who is in the Ishat(persea) tree and another chapel at Medinet Habu and possible still other chapels (at Medamud) that have been destroyed. Where do these recently discovered blocks come from? Blocks 15 and 16 can be identified as being at the bottom of a row of text and they have identifiable architecture. There is a chapel Osiris Padedankh with similar architecture which was excavated by Robichon in the 1950’s which was published in Karnak Nord IV. Located near the temple of Montu in Karnak North it is the same style Barguet, P. and Leclant, Jean published a plan with Hathoric columns. No king appears in the chapel. It is possible the Sphinx Avenue blocks come from this chapel and he showed where they could fit on the decoration at the front. It is quite clever how from just a few glyphs he could identify the text that they were the finishing signs for. Blocks 9 and 10 must have come from an inner door and he has identified where they would fit in the plan in an inner chapel with the help of another block that he found in front of the first pylon. Block 13 has part of two scenes and there is only one place where that would fir which is the back wall of the shrine.This chapel was thought to be located at Karnak as all the blocks were found there but now with blocks from the same chapel found in sphinx alley and the front of Karnak he re-evaluated that assumption. However he still believes that the location was Karnak North as there are other 25th dynasty structures there. There was minimal Nubian influence and it seems to have been more to glorify Shepenwepet. The other chapel Osiris Ounnefer who is in the Ishat(persea) tree also seems to have this purpose.

Southern Bubastis GateThis flowed on very nicely from last week. Old photos show that the gateway originally had a screen wall that was built during the Ptolemaic period of reused blocks. Legrains photos of 1917 show the screen wall in place. Chevrier did some restoration in that area in 1937 and photos of 1947 show the screen wall missing. Jeremy wanted to identify where these blocks were as they also seem to be part of these chapels. He found some, in very poor condition pilled in a heap close to the gate; some 30% of certain blocks had disappeared, the sandstone block reverting back to sand after prolonged contact with the damp ground. These have now been rescued and placed on mastabas. There has been a project to scan all old photos and he has been studying these and identifying blocks that he thinks are from the chapels and whether he can still find them. The blocks in this gate are from an unknown chapel to a God’s wife of Amun, but he does not know which one. In the excavations at the front of Karnak Salah has found a block as well. So the 25th and 26th dynasty had several more chapels which means we have yet to • Understand the cult of Osiris • Karnak temple during the 25th and 26th dynasty• The relationship between the 25th and 26th dynasty

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The Diploma in Egyptology is delivered entirely on-line via the Blackboard Virtual e-learning platform. It offers a tried and tested combination of written Learning Modules, specially recorded lectures, assessments and appraisals. Throughout the Diploma there is the opportunity for group discussion via online tutorial groups and discussion boards.

Course Begins: 01 October 2012 (Blackboard open September 2012)Applications open: 30 March 2012Deadline for applications: 30 June 2012

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UK - co-owner of Flats in Luxor Group. British in origin, Egyptian at heart. First visited Egypt in 1979 and finally got to move here in 2003. Been there, done it and got the t-shirt(IT Consultant, PCG Chairman, ex cult member). Finally living my dream: Egyptology (doing an online Egyptology course at Manchester Uni), sunshine, cold beer and Mahmoud. What more could a girl want?